"We Should Probably Remember Jamestown at Least Once a Year"

"The story of Jamestown portrays the United States as a runaway business venture fueled by the greed of capitalists, the desperation of the poor, and the misery of slaves. Jamestown shows that the United States, from its very inception, has treated natural and human resources as equally inexhaustible, and equally expendable. It shows the arrogance of distant elites whose knowledge of their own incompetence is rendered painless by their indifference to human consequences. It's obvious from the historical record that many of the ordinary people involved in this enterprise did not like where it was going, but did not know how to stop it."

Brianna Rennix at Current Affairs argues that Americans should focus on 1607 more than 1620.

"An Extended Rebuttal of Trump, Who Has Appropriated the Story of a Native American Hero to Use as a Slur"

"Warren's move to more publicly address the issue had some similarities to former president Barack Obama's 2008 campaign speeches about race—which followed criticism of his ties to the controversial former pastor Jeremiah Wright—and to Mitt Romney's 2007 speech about his Mormon faith. But Warren's speech also appeared to be an attempt to defuse the controversy before it came under the full glare, if she runs, of a national presidential campaign.
"Her speech also doesn't come without significant risks in a toxic political environment and one that could provide Trump with another opportunity to criticize her. It was also a challenge to her many critics, who have pointed to her claims of Native American heritage as a sign that she can't be trusted.
"Warren has often been reluctant to tackle the touchy issue, but she spoke with force and emotion on Wednesday."

Matt Viser and Liz Goodwin at the Boston Globe report on Sen. Elizabeth Warren's speech to the National Congress of American Indians.

"The Most Myth-Encrusted Figure in Early America"

"She was born Matoaka, in the mid-1590s, the daughter of Powhatan, who ruled a native empire in what is now eastern Virginia. Powhatan had dozens of children, and power in his culture passed between males. But she did attract special notice for her beauty and liveliness; hence Pocahontas, a nickname meaning, roughly, 'playful one.' This was also the name she was known by to the English who settled near her home in 1607. John Smith, an early leader in Jamestown, described her as beautiful in  'feature, countenance, and proportion' and filled with 'wit and spirit.'

"But contrary to her depiction in films by Disney and others, Pocahontas wasn’t a busty teenager when the English encountered her. Smith called her 'A child of ten years old,' while another colonist described her as a 'young girle,' cartwheeling naked through Jamestown. There is no evidence of romance between her and Smith (a lifelong bachelor, who, to judge from his own portrait, was far from handsome). Nor is there a firm basis for the tale of Pocahontas saving the English captain from execution by flinging her body across his. The only source for this story is Smith, who exaggerated many of his exploits and didn’t mention his rescue by Pocahontas until 17 years after it allegedly occurred."

 

Tony Horwitz in Smithsonian looks at the life and legend of Pocahontas.

"Just Watch Out for Those Socialists from Jamestown"

"A member of the audience passed a question to the moderator, who read it to Armey: How can the Federalist Papers be an inspiration for the tea party, when their principal author, Alexander Hamilton, 'was widely regarded then and now as an advocate of a strong central government'?
"Historian Armey was flummoxed by this new information. 'Widely regarded by whom?' he challenged, suspiciously. 'Today's modern ill-informed political science professors? . . . I just doubt that was the case in fact about Hamilton.'
"Alas, for Armey, it was the case. Hamilton favored a national bank, presidents and senators who served for life and state governors appointed by the president."

Dana Milbank in The Washington Post listens to a history lesson from Dick Armey.

More Fun in the New World

U.S. News & World Report commemorates the 400th anniversary of Jamestown.

Jon Meacham in the Los Angeles Times reviews Benjamin Woolley's Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America and Karen Ordahl Kupperman's The Jamestown Project.

Also in the Los Angeles Times, Kirkpatrick Sale notes the environmental consequence of Jamestown.